You also have to coach it up and not have lapses against inferior opponents. USC had a class one year with like 8 to 10 five stars and walked away with a grand total of zero national championships.

Which class are you talking about? Because if you are talking about the McKnight/Tyler/Griffen/etc. Class, they did walk away with 2 rose bowls with that group, and arguably should have been in the title game in 2 of those years.

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Originally Posted by 49erNation85

I wouldn't be sir prized if he passed McCoy on the depth chart. I think he might have a better arm and accurate arm then him from the highlights I thought. He also got some wheels too help us prepare for QB's as Wilson , RG3 and other runners etc.

Which class are you talking about? Because if you are talking about the McKnight/Tyler/Griffen/etc. Class, they did walk away with 2 rose bowls with that group, and arguably should have been in the title game in 2 of those years.

Sooooooo.... You are validating his point by agreeing that there were no NCs.

I think there is some correlation between top classes and top teams, but a lot of what goes into Rivals (and everywhere else) rankings is who offers and where they commit to. Alabama keeps getting top ranked guys because they're going to Bama.

In general, the schools that get the best talent will be better, but there are tons of teams with top classes that still don't compete for national titles.

Texas A&Ms last 4 years were 22, 17, 27 and 15. Good, but not a team you'd expect to contend for an SEC title last year (and likely a NC this year). A lot of that has to do with Manziel, but their OL and DL were fantastic last year.

Meanwhile Texas was 5, 3, 3, 2 the last 4 years. And they blew dick. Oregon has solid rankings, but not great. KState was in the 60s the past few years. I'm sure there are more (especially with high ranking teams being bad).

Again, there's correlation between being good and having a high ranking, but I don't think it's a something that's dependent on each other.

Also Rivals rankings are complete **** now that 247 stole all their guys.

This is a big part of it.

Also, for those of you that are fans of "helmet schools", one thing you don't understand is that 99% of the website's content and attention goes to players those schools are interested in signing because those are the fanbases fanatical/stupid enough to subscribe to something like rivals. Rivals is usually pretty solid in identifying the top 250 players. Beyond that? They don't have a ******* clue because at most they've watched a youtube video or two. Their rankings get really murky beyond that, so if your goal isn't to in the national championship, they are pretty worthless.

Sooooooo.... You are validating his point by agreeing that there were no NCs.

Got it.

My point is that that were title caliber teams. I stand by it that 2008 USC goes into that title game and makes Tebow and the Gators cry...

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Originally Posted by 49erNation85

I wouldn't be sir prized if he passed McCoy on the depth chart. I think he might have a better arm and accurate arm then him from the highlights I thought. He also got some wheels too help us prepare for QB's as Wilson , RG3 and other runners etc.

DG and bf_51 bring up a great point in that its hard to put a lot of stock into who we are told are the "best recruiting classes" year in and year out. The guys the top schools go after get a lot more attention. Now, I'm not saying these schools don't know what they are doing, but we see every year that a lot of the best players in college football aren't 5 star guys. This has to do with player development, system, but also the ability of a staff to find talent. If a coaching staff watches a guy play and feels he could be great, who cares what his rating is? I trust a college coaching staff to have faith in a guy a lot more than a scouting site.

DG and bf_51 bring up a great point in that its hard to put a lot of stock into who we are told are the "best recruiting classes" year in and year out. The guys the top schools go after get a lot more attention. Now, I'm not saying these schools don't know what they are doing, but we see every year that a lot of the best players in college football aren't 5 star guys. This has to do with player development, system, but also the ability of a staff to find talent. If a coaching staff watches a guy play and feels he could be great, who cares what his rating is? I trust a college coaching staff to have faith in a guy a lot more than a scouting site.

Yeah, this happened alot under Tressel at OSU. SantOnio Holmes and AJ Hawk come to mind.

Also this stat:

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@GerdOzone: Using Rivals' ratings, #OSU's 2005 class had 7 enrollees of 3-stars or worse. All 7 have played at least 3 years in the NFL.

Also, for those of you that are fans of "helmet schools", one thing you don't understand is that 99% of the website's content and attention goes to players those schools are interested in signing because those are the fanbases fanatical/stupid enough to subscribe to something like rivals. Rivals is usually pretty solid in identifying the top 250 players. Beyond that? They don't have a ******* clue because at most they've watched a youtube video or two. Their rankings get really murky beyond that, so if your goal isn't to in the national championship, they are pretty worthless.

The fan base one is another thing I forgot about. Also in the past (haven't heard this recently), some coaches get bonuses if they sign so many 4* or have a class ranked a certain way. So either they target players that are 4*, or they "convince" a Rivals guy to give a player a bump. Tons of ways that the rankings a manipulated that have nothing to do how good a player is.

Not even getting into the whole oversigning thing that jacks up rankings. Signing guys that won't qualify etc.

Also could someone explain to me how UNCs class of 2 4* and 15 3* is better than UMs class of 7 4*, 7 3* and a 2*? They also completely left a player our of our class. :/

Rankings are derptastic. Like you guys have said, they mostly just parrot offer lists and commits. The services also prop up the players that commit late vs early. Also, they prop up recruits pursued by schools that have fan bases that pay more for the services.

Josh Newberg: At what point did you know you were going to sign with Florida State?
Matthew Thomas: Well I decided that morning (Signing Day). The night before I was honestly thinking USC. I was trying to get the LOI and everything ready and signed first. But my mom didn't want to sign it. She didn't want me to go to USC.